Markets Overview

  • ASX SPI 200 futures up 1.1% to 7,316.00
  • Dow Average down 0.7% to 34,528.64
  • Aussie down 0.2% to 0.7397 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield rose 15.4bps to 2.3041%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield rose 2bps to 1.95%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield rose 0.4bps to 2.58%
  • Gold spot up 0.8% to $1,936.29
  • Brent futures up 7.9% to $116.46/bbl

Economic Events

  • 9:30am: (AU) March ANZ Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer, prior 95.8
  • 11am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$100 Million 2.5% 2030 Bonds
  • 2:30pm: (AU) RBA’s Lowe-Panel

Jerome Powell’s renewed hawkish message roiled financial markets, sending Treasury yields spiking higher as the Federal Reserve looks poised to raise interest rates sharply to tamp down inflation.

The two-year Treasury rate surged almost 20 points to its highest level since 2019, while the three-year and 10-year yields jumped by the most since March 2020 after the Fed chair said the central bank will take the “necessary steps” to get price increases under control. Stocks initially sold off as the chairman spoke, but almost erased all losses with a late-session rebound. The ructions in the Treasury market narrowed the rate spread among maturities, in a sign that the bond market is anticipating the Fed’s restrictive moves could tip the economy into recession.

Other News

If there’s one vehicle you wouldn’t want to get stuck in traffic behind, it’s this one.

Measuring a whopping 100ft and 1.5 inches (30.54 metres) in length, ‘The American Dream’ super limo is the longest car in the world, having originally been built 35 years ago.

It comes with features fit for a king, including a jacuzzi, mini-golf course, helipad and even a swimming pool with a diving board.

Not only that, the limo can be driven from both ends and fits more than 75 people.

First built in Burbank, California in 1986 by famed car customiser Jay Ohrberg, ‘The American Dream’ originally measured 60 feet (18.28 metres) long, rolled on 26 wheels, and had a pair of V8 engines at the front and rear.

Ohrberg later extended the limo to 100 feet (30.5 metres) long before it was abandoned at the back of a New Jersey warehouse for years and fell into a state of disrepair.

It was eventually listed on eBay, where it changed hands twice but was ultimately purchased by its current owner Michael Dezer for an undisclosed amount.

He then recruited its interim owner Michael Manning to help restore it and on March 1 this year the limo was officially recognised for breaking its own Guinness World Record by a small fraction, having been extended by a couple of inches.

The project, which cost over $250,000 (£190,725) in shipping, materials, and labour, took three years to complete.